Dakota Johnson Faces Trouble for Blaming Executives for ‘Madame Web’s’ Bad Reception

Just under a month ago, ‘Madame Web’ hit theaters with disastrous results. The film bombed at the box office, pulling in a mere $6 million on its opening day. It’s struggling to compete against heavy hitters like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.’ or even the recently released ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’ Its chances of surpassing ‘Morbius’ seem slim. Critical reception has been harsh, with a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 57% from the audience, branding it as “rotten.”

Critics slammed the disjointed storyline and criticized the misleading promotional material, which portrayed the Spider-Women as fully powered and costumed, unlike their portrayal in the movie. Fans speculated various reasons for such a colossal failure, citing unfamiliarity with the source material among others. As actors and directors tried to salvage the situation, Dakota Johnson’s apparent resignation stood out. In her interview with Bustle, Johnson candidly addressed the factors contributing to the film’s downfall, making one particularly noteworthy statement.

It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee. Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsht. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to fcking want to see those.

This isn’t the first negative comment Johnson has made about the studio since the movie’s release. According to a source from the Daily Mail, the executives have taken notice of her behavior.

Dakota is being looked down on over her talk of the film because everyone in the production is thinking, what if the movie was still the same but also a box office gem? She would be talking about sequels and probably praising herself over its good fortune.

This holds some truth. Before the movie failed, Dakota expressed interest in a sequel and was willing to participate. However, just weeks later, she indicated she might never do something similar again. The source also noted that Dakota would need to make amends with the executives, suggesting this could affect her future acting opportunities as she didn’t take responsibility for the movie’s poor performance.

It is OK to joke about your movie not doing well and even lean into the bad reviews like Sydney Sweeney did on SNL with her monologue – but producers and Sony aren’t laughing over Dakota’s continued dragging of how she sees the fallout of Madame Web and how she isn’t taking any responsibility for its lackluster results

Do you agree with Dakota Johnson’s criticism of the movie, or do you think otherwise? Share your thoughts in the comments section!